Local branch finally closed last night, another area branch the day before. I couldn't believe how bare the shelves were, even considering the 50 to 80% discounts. Grabbed a few bargains, but it definitely sucks to see the stores gone. They had some older guys working there who knew their stuff and weren't vultures.
Yeah, I know how you feel. Except all you lost was a place to buy tools. I lost my job! And it was a job I really enjoyed! :o( Terry
Any new news on the new stores?
Barry
Losing a job is always sad. Good luck with your future. The Norwich store was OK but I hardly ever got down that way. I hope the Auburn MA store re-opens under a new name and better setup. It wad dingy, cluttered, and not inviting at all. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net
Should know more in the next couple of weeks. Gonna have a meeting soon.....I hope! :o)
Terry
opens in Auburn. At least that is, for the new ones of the Western Tool Supply chain. Who knows who else might be lurking out there? :o)
Terry
Sorry if I'm jumping here late, but are some of the stores going to be re-opening under a different name? I always used to go the Manchester, CT store and would love to see something there.
No not really. Woodworkers Warehouse is dead...totally. However, the fellow who was my area manager has set up a partnership of some kind with the guy who owns a string of stores in the northwest called Western Tool Supply. He plans on opening around 11 stores right away with hopefully 30 in all within a year or so. There won't be one in Manchester as far as I know. What I was told was that the first ones would be in Old Saybrook, Ct., Hyannis, Mass., and Port Chester, NY. Also about 8 other locations that I wasn't told specifically which ones. I believe he kind of took a look at the top performing stores in the WWW operation and is trying to obtain the leases of those former WWW stores. Some he got and some he wasn't able to get.
We'll see how this goes. I sincerely hope it all works out!
Terry
Yahoo, yippee, huzzah, bravo, thanks to (insert favorite deity/force), wheeee. Cape Cod, Cape Cod, Cape Cod YAY.
You've got to be kidding me. Port Chester was one of the top performing stores??? I used to go in there once in a while. As often as not, I'd be the only customer in there. Sometimes there would be one or two other customers. Hard to see how they made any money at all with that kind of traffic.
There's no doubt Port Chester has the potential to be a good location. Between Westchester (NY) and Fairfield (CT) counties, you're probably looking at the two highest per-capita income counties in the US. The store is 2 minutes off the interstate, and right next to a Home Depot (which serves to attract people to the location, but doesn't really compete for the same business). And for all that, the store was empty most of the time.
Interesting. The store in Avon Mass. was a stone's throw from the Borg as well. I often wondered if it helped or hindered.
tt
DId you ever notice how few of the products carried by Woodworker's Warehouse were carried by BORGs? You could hit an Orange BORG with a rock from the Wallingford, CT WWW store as well, but the Wallingford store did a terrific business.
The Manchester, CT WWW store was across the street from a very well run Woodcraft. After a few visits to both, it was obvious that even those two stores had a lot of product that didn't overlap.
Barry
I'm not privy to any documented info on this, but other managers and middle manager types have told me that research showed that when WW stores were placed near the Borgs, they did very well. Even better than the ones which were situated far away from a Borg. (if that's possible anymore nowadays! LOL)
I was told they felt it was the knowledge of the WW staff in addition to the items we carried that the Borg didn't. Folks would go into the Borg and find a young kid working there who didn't even know what a sawhorse was. So they went to the WW and found an older staff who (hopefully) actually knew what they were talking about.
Well anyway, that's what I was told. And it makes sense to me in view of my own visits to my local Borg. Geez, there was a fellow in there who was asking the clerk how you rip with a SCMS. The clerk was fiddling around the saw and couldn't figure it out! Gee...no kidding. Finally he said, "I dunno, there must be SOME way to rip with it! I shook my head and explained to the hapless customer about the saw, etc. Unbelievable!
Terry Sumner
Years ago, I wrote an article for Pop. Wodoworking that I don't think ever ran. Mail Order woodworking stores. At that time, I wasn't too surprised to find that each store had its niche. Rockler, for example, doesn't carry any large power tools--and not many small ones--but carries a LOT of hardware. Lee Valley was smaller then (they all were, except Trend-Lines), with a smaller selection, but had a really solid rep for great customer service and good tools. Woodcraft had the largest selection of carving and turning tools of the general woodworking mailorder houses. Still does, I think. Also the largest selection of books, while Rockler emphasized plans.
There is plenty of overlap, but plenty that doesn't overlap. If properly run, it would probably be possible to make a liviing with a Rockler store within a few blocks of a Woodcraft, and vice versa, if the overall market were large enough. I think Woodcraft has until recently insisted on 350,000 as a base for their franchises, though I know they're about to open a Roanoke, VA store, after opening an Albany, NY store last month. Two great small cities (each is about 95-100,000) by the way, though Albany feeds a larger market (Troy-Schenectady-Scotia-Latham-Colonie and more).
Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker
There were many times that the WW staff would send customers to the Borg for things they didn't carry, which I always considered good business. You have to appreciate someone that would rather send you somewhere else than try to sell you something inappropriate.
tt
Oh Geez,
We were doing that daily. There was always someone coming in that was looking for lumber or hardware that we didn't carry. Also contractor's items like ladders, pump jacks, pickup racks, etc etc. It was easy because I know every store around and what they carry and I could send the customer to the right place for whatever it was they wanted that we didn't carry. Also like you said, send them to some place that had something more suited to what they wanted to do rather than sell them something that woul do a sub-par job or not even work at all. And we got lot's of thanks from folks who appreciated the honesty on where the best place was to go and obtain what they were looking for.
Over in Warwick, RI, where the WW was just up the road from Woodcraft, they used to send customers to each other's stores for items carried/not carried by each other. You're right again...it's just good business building a huge amount of good will I think. Man, I sure miss that job already!
Terry
Guarantee he won't be dropping one into the Albany NY area. We just got a brand new Woodcraft store just as the WWW was folding, and it's within spittin' distance of the WWW location. Plus there's several new Lowe's stores popping up around here, and a Home Depot in my town, which has a population of about 15,000.
Jon E
....
A new Woodcraft is also opening on Rt 147 in West Springfield, MA on February 2, 2004.
John
Anyone else unsatisfied with the new Woodcraft in Albany? The sales associates have a serious lack of effort and general disinterest in helping out customers. Am I alone in this thinking? With the WW gone its a real shame that Woodcraft is the only place left. I was pretty excited when they came into town but after a few miserable visits in there, I don't even want to enter the door.
I don't feel bad at all. The last time I was in one of these places I looked at a PC sander. I picked it up to feel the heft, and then asked to plug it in to get the feel and sound level before purchasing it. They refused saying it was agains't store policy. I explained that I had purchased a sander in the past that is very loud and did not wish to make the same mistake. They still refused. I put it back on the shelf and told them that they, and the sander, should have a long and happy life together.
A few weeks later I was in the chicago area where I visited Berlands House of Tools. The prices in here are not for the faint of heart. However, I was looking for the sander and a couple of other pieces. They had suggestions; they took the tools over to a bench, put up some scrap wood, threw on a disk, and let me go at it. Same thing with a Metabo scraper. I walked out with the ROS. A friend with me also bought a belt sander. We decided agains't the Metabo.
Service does make a difference!
I will return to Berlands and I won't miss Woodworkers Warehouse.
Len
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